


Kiss the Rain

by SelenaEstella



Category: Bleach
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Introspection, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 05:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13207161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaEstella/pseuds/SelenaEstella
Summary: In which Harribel meets Orihime on a cold, wet day in the human world.





	Kiss the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve realised some of this could come across as Urahara-bashing (my feelings towards him are. mixed). I didn't think it was heavy enough to tag, so just a heads up. Otherwise, enjoy~

She had been told that her powers would be greater in this world, where the air was thick with water, where it made lakes and rivers and seas. She remembers stepping through and feeling her powers bloom. **  
**

But… the skies had been clear then.

It  _rains_ here, in this world. Not trapped in wisps of cloud, or buried under the sand, water gathers in the sky and  _falls_.

It is both empowering and humbling to be so surrounded by her element. It drips in her hair, runs across her lips, tumbles from her outstretched palm. Tastes clean and fresh, the endless rhythm drowning out her thoughts. She stands in the downpour, soaked to the bone, and feels… peaceful, somehow. Peaceful, and so lost in the heaviness of the rain that she neither hears nor senses the other approach.

“Harribel-san?”

Tier blinks. Her feet slap the concrete as she turns, feet squelching her in shoes. Realises, as she comes back to herself, just how  _cold_ the water is.

Inoue hurries over, rain falling in a shower from her pink umbrella. She’s in summer clothes still, Tier notes, a short sleeved T-shirt and frilled skirt. Inoue’s bare arms are covered in gooseflesh, and her canvas shoes are soggy. She must have been caught out by the rain just like Tier.

Inoue stops mere inches away, peering up at Tier with wide, worried eyes. “Are you alright?”

Tier shakes herself slightly. “Yes, Inoue-san,” she says. “I am perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?” Inoue leans a little closer, then makes a funny sound of surprise. “Ah! You’re soaking wet! Come with me!”

–

Orihime Inoue is the only person who can give Tier Harribel orders. Not because she has power, not because she has authority, but because her demands are given with such pure, clean innocence that Tier cannot think of any reason to disobey. There’s no… manipulation. Not ulterior motive. It had taken a while for Tier to understand, to realise that she could see no malice because there wasn’t any; that Inoue’s words and actions are driven solely by kindness.

It’s something she’s had to get used to. Not just from Inoue but from all her human friends. Kindness is not the same in Hueco Mundo, even where it exists.

Now Tier finds herself in Inoue’s bedroom, naked, a towel around her waist and a bundle of clothes in her hands.

“We’re about the same size, um, around,” Ioune had said, pulling out various articles of clothing, ignoring some,setting others aside. “Put these on, I’ll put yours in the dryer.” Tier had done nothing but stand there, dripping, becoming more and more aware that she was getting the carpet damp. Feeling out of place.

“You don’t… have to…” she’d said eventually, with Inoue looking at her so expectantly, offering the towel.

“Eh? Of course I do!” As if it was obvious, as if it was easy. “I can’t leave a fellow girl wet in the rain!”

As if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Now dry, Tier begins redressing herself. The skirt reaches her knees, and is a little snug around the waist, but feels warm and soft against the gigai’s skin. The socks are unnecessary, but add an aesthetic touch with their spots and bows. It’s only when she reaches her upper half that Tier encounters a problem.

“Um, how are you doing?” Inoue asks, through the crack in the door.

Tier’s been slowly getting used to the human world, learning the customs and quirks, but there are still some things she has difficulty with. Some things that Hueco Mundo, and even Las Noches, failed to prepare her for.

Tier fumbles with the hooks. “Inoue-san… how do I…”

Inoue peers around the door, then ducks out again, a blush appearing on her cheeks. It’s another strange thing about humans, how much they cover their bodies unless the circumstances are very specific.

“Oh! Well, I find it easiest to put it around myself with the hooks on the left side at the front, then do it up, turn it round, and pull it up and on.”

Tier follows the instructions to the best of her ability. “And put my arms through the loops?”

“Uh huh!”

Tier frowns, pulling at the straps. “It’s a little tight.”

Inoue’s head appears around the door again. “Um, I’ll adjust it for you, if you want?”

“Yes, please.”

Tier doesn’t quite understand Inoue’s reluctance; she has shown no fear, hadn’t even thought twice about inviting a former enemy into her home, so why is she so cautious coming around the door? Inoue does so anyway, face still a little red, and does something to the firm bits of plastic that makes the bra straps loosen.

“They really didn’t have these in Las Noches, huh?” she asks, a little awkward. Tier pulls the shirt on, a gentle white thing that is wonderfully soft.

“No. Well. My mask pieces gave support, I didn’t need them.” There’s a full-length mirror on one wall and Tier finds herself staring. She gets caught off-guard by how…  _expressive_ she looks, with the lower half of her face exposed.

“Oh, phew!” Inoue continues, picking up the damp towel and soaking clothes. “I thought I was explaining badly, Ulquiorra didn’t understand!”

It’s funny enough to earn a small, startled laugh. “You asked him?” Tier tries to imagine the conversation, to picture Schiffer’s face, but it’s hopeless.

“Yeah, I did!” Inoue laughs, a bounce in her step as she leaves the room once more. “I’ll put these in to dry, and then I’ll make us some hot tea… Uh, do you like tea?”

“I don’t know,” Tier admits. The only times she’s seen it, she’s been physically unable to drink it. “But, I will give it a try,” she adds, at Inoue’s crestfallen expression.

It’s not long after that Tier finds herself kneeling at a low table, a mug of green tea in her hands. It isn’t sweet, it tastes mild and almost earthy. She finds she likes it.

Inoue heaves a sigh of relief at Tier’s nod of approval, and takes a sip from her own, slightly darker drink. “I made yours a bit weaker,” she explains, “since you’re not used to it.”

“It is pleasant,” Tier says quietly, more because she feels she has to speak than because she has anything to say. Inoue fidgets a little, gazing around the small room. The dryer makes a steady churning noise in the background. The rain outside continues to fall.

“Um, Harribel-san…” Inoue begins, staring at her tea. “Why didn’t Aizen put me with you?”

Tier has another sip, considering her answer as the warmth soaks into her tongue. It is a natural question to ask, but she hadn’t expected it so soon. “I don’t know,” she says after a moment. “Perhaps he thought I would have been too sympathetic.”

“Oh, yeah… that makes sense…”

“Inoue-san…” Tier puts her cup down, and stares solemnly at the girl across the table. “Are you alright?”

“Hm?”

Tier cannot stand her gaze. The light, innocent confusion. She looks away. “What you endured in Las Noches… it could not have been easy…”

“Oh!” Inoue sounds genuinely surprised. “No, I’m fine! Strong as an ox, healthy as a horse! I’m fine, really!”

She’s smiling so brilliantly that Tier can’t help but give a small one in return.

“I’m glad.”

“And, everything worked out alright, didn’t it?” Inoue continues, casually waving one hand. “I got home, Aizen’s gone, ah, um…” she trails off. “Harribel-san… are  _you_ alright?”

Tier has another drink of tea. “How do you mean?” she asks.

“I heard that… when you were taken, by the Vandenreich…” Inoue bites her lip. “Urahara-san–”

Tier slams her cup onto the table.

It’s involuntary, and she regrets it the moment she sees Inoue flinch, but she cannot stop the rage from boiling inside her, or the shaking in her hands. Tier shuts her eyes, locked in place, because if she moves she could tear this whole building apart. “ _I do not like that man_.”

“Who?” Inoue whispers, but it’s loud against the quiet.

“ _Kisuke_ ,” Tier spits. Her claws leave scratches on the table and she forces them angrily around her teacup, clenching the brittle thing until it cracks. “The way he talked about this body… the way he touched it, when he showed me. Saying those things as if I wouldn’t understand, as if he thought it was  _funny_ … This body feels  _tainted_.”

Her words leave a tense, heavy silence.

“I’m sorry.”

Tier breathes. Slowly. In and out.

“Don’t be,” she says, voice low and clipped. “It isn’t your fault.”

“That doesn’t matter! Tier-chan, nobody should make you feel that way!” Inoue squares her shoulders. “I’ll talk to him, if you want, I’ll make him apologise!”

Kisuke is not a man who can be _made_ to do anything. It is something Tier has seen before, in other men, in Aizen. But Inoue is so determined that she almost makes it seem possible.

“No,” Tier says quietly. “You don’t have to get involved with this.”

“Tier-chan… U-um…” Inoue stumbles, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “Can I call you that?”

Tier stares for a moment. “I… suppose?”

“Tier-chan.” The conviction is back. Inoue leans forward, hair spilling over her shoulders in amber waves. She puts her hands on the table, then moves them even closer, to wrap around Tier’s where they’re still holding her cup.

Tier finds herself captured by imploring grey eyes.

“Tier-chan,” says Inoue, “I want to be involved. If… if we’re going to be friends, then of course I’m going to help you!”

“…Friends?”

“Mm-hm!”

“I see…”

She doesn’t know how to react to this.

Inoue draws back after a moment, cheeks fiery red, so soft, so fragile. So easy to draw blood from beneath tender skin. It makes no sense, there is no reason for her to do anything for Tier’s sake. There is nothing she can gain, and besides, the Queen of Hueco Mundo is not so easily manipulated.

_Nothing to gain… except…_

There had been nothing for her to gain either… save for another voice to listen to in Hueco Mundo’s endless night. For another set of footsteps in Hueco Mundo’s endless sands. For another soul, not inside her body, but with her nonetheless.

“There is little point speaking to him,” Tier says eventually, a bitter edge to her voice. “He won’t change. I expect you’ll get a flippant non-apology and a joke thrown in your face.”

Inoue looks affronted, offended even. “Um, I don’t know if he’s  _that_ bad…”

Tier raises her eyebrow in a way she has almost certainly picked up from Sung-Sun.

“…but that isn’t the point. I can’t not do anything now.”

Ah, so it is a sense of obligation after all. Which will make the situation easier manage, at least. She shouldn’t feel disappointed.

“And like I said, I want us to be friends!”

It’s as if something stronger than her mask is sealing Tier’s mouth shut. This notion of friendship, it is absurd. What point would there be to it, they live in separate worlds for goodness sake - the gigai is supposed to be for diplomatic purposes, a way for powerful Arrancar to attend meetings and such in the human world without threatening the inhabitants with their reiatsu alone. It isn’t as if Tier can take a vacation whenever she feels like it and drink tea. But there doesn’t seem to be a way of saying it.

There is a sharp, high sound that makes both of them jump, and the dryer comes to an abrupt stop. Inoue leaps to her feet. Tier is left, staring at her lukewarm drink, wondering what she can possibly say.

“Um… your clothes are dry… I’ll iron them if you’d like?”

Tier gets abruptly to her feet. “No, thank you. I have imposed long enough.”

It was only supposed to be a walk after all. A test. The sooner she returns the gigai the sooner sooner she can return to Las Noches. Tier thinks it over as she changes again, fully aware of what Kisuke will say if she returns in Inoue’s clothing. The outer walls of the fortress are still badly damaged; she’s been focused more on clearing the underground halls. While Tier may resent Las Noches for who built it, she can’t deny that it’s become an important centre point and sanctuary for the hollows who are now her subjects. Besides, she likes sleeping in a bed.

Tier folds her borrowed clothing and returns to the main room of Inoue’s home. The girl is waiting in the centre, a folded umbrella in hand and an anxious look about her. Tier can’t help but feel as if she’s spoilt something, somehow.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“No,” says Tier, as she accepts the offered umbrella. “But, thank you. I… appreciate your support.”

It earns her a small smile.

“I will speak to him, Tier-chan,” Inoue promises. “I’ll speak to Yoruichi-san as well, see what she thinks.”

“You don't…”

“But I want to! I  _want_ to, Tier-chan.”

“… Alright.”

She’s smiling. She can feel it, and with her face so bare she feels almost naked, but she can’t stop it, and finds she doesn’t want to.

Inoue opens the door for her. Tier raises the umbrella, steps out into the rain, and marvels at its power once more.

“A-and! If you’re ever around again, you should come over!”

Inoue is leaning out of the door, rainwater falling on her hair, shining, glimmering from the warm light from her home.

“We can have more tea, maybe some daifuku and sandwiches. There are some recipes I’d like to try, so… Please consider it!”

Tier meets those kind, earnest eyes and finds herself agreeing without thinking. “Yes,” she says. “Yes, of course… It would be a pleasure, Inoue-san.”

She turns into the rain before another word can be spoken. Before anything else can distract her.

She continues to think as she walks, turning Inoue’s question around in her mind. The rain slaps beneath her wet shoes, and the cold air has chased away the warmth left in her clothes.

Aizen had been many things. A man, a king, a god. A warrior. A tyrant, and a traitor. Cruel. Insane, or perhaps merely drunk on his power. Yes, he had been many things. But he had never been a fool.

_Why didn’t Aizen put me with you?_

Tier knows the reason. Know it every time she pictures that face, those lips, those kind and honest eyes.

_Because I would have let you go._

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was much inspired by [loving-that-officey-feel](loving-that-officey-feel.tumblr.com), whose writing introduced me to the phrase 'Irresistible Lesbian Magnetism'


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